Are consumers loosing trust that Apple will keep personal information private? That’s the implication from new rankings showing the iPhone maker fell out of the top 20 most-trusted firms in 2012.

The firm fell to number 21 after being among the top 20 companies viewed as protecting customer data. Mozilla, the maker of open-source web browser Firefox claimed the number 20 spot, according to privacy watcher Ponemon Institute.

Consumer credit firm American Express again took the number one position in the 2012 privacy rankings. Computer maker Hewlett-Packard and Amazon, creator of the Kindle, ranked number two and three. Amazon improved its ranking, rising to third place in 2012, up from the fifth spot in 2011. Although Apple had ranked as high as number 8 in 2009, confidence in the firm’s privacy stance has been shaken over the past year…

Apple is in good company, however. Neither social networking firm Facebook nor Android creator Google made it into the top 10 of most-trusted U.S. firms.

In 2011 came word that the Path app was grabbing users’ address books and uploading the data.

Monday came word Canadian and Dutch authorities are investigating WhatsApp Messenger for using the address books without permission. Soon after the original privacy scare erupted, Apple added a a feature requiring users of iOS 6 to give individual apps permission to access contact information.

Both Congress and the federal government took note of the privacy issue, some House members even proposing tougher restrictions on what data advertisers can obtain from app users. The FTC also launched a probe of consumer privacy in the age of apps.

Indeed, lack of data security was cited often in the privacy trust survey conducted by Ponemon. Not only is identity theft seen as the top security threat, but preventing data sharing without consent is seen as the second most important privacy feature .

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thank you for telling us what number 2, 3, 20 and 21 are…but umm, whats number 1? im interested in knowing

http://twitter.com/BUSfromRUS Alexander Bus

American Express.

Kurt

Pinocchio

http://twitter.com/helliwell86 llǝɥɾ

NO1 is Android haha

Kurt

ios has to be better than android when it comes to privacy:P

JamesR624

Gotta say, I do think Android is surpassing iOS in a lot of ways. Privacy is not one of them. on iOS, I can feel safe putting a copy of my SSN card in an encrypted wallet app and know that not even a rouge cop could get into my phone. Thats a real testament to how secure iOS is.

http://twitter.com/randomprice Sol Estravís

1. American Express
2.HP
3. Amazon
4.IBM
5. US postal service

Kurt

i wouldn’t have guessed a credit card company would be number one.

http://twitter.com/helliwell86 llǝɥɾ

I hope whatsapp survives and sorts its self out

http://www.facebook.com/linton.findlay Linton Findlay

i dont think they give a shit about 1 spot

https://twitter.com/MrElectrifyer MrElectrifyer

Government censorship (baked into iOS 6) ain’t considered a privacy threat? Seems to have been excluded as Apple is still sitting that high on the list.

Kurt

say what?

https://twitter.com/MrElectrifyer MrElectrifyer

Google “iOS government censorship” and check out the “Government Censorship has arrived and more” article (scroll down to the “APPLE IOS 6 TO ALLOW GOVERNMENT ALERTS” section)

JamesR624

How the fuck are Amber and Emergency alerts “government censorship”?

As an american, I don’t like a LOT of what our government is doing, but that doesn’t mean I turn into some nutcase that thinks anything involving the even the word “government” is an invasion of privacy.

https://twitter.com/MrElectrifyer MrElectrifyer

That’s the 1 possitive function, but incase you haven’t noticed (as you seem to be living under a rock), there’s too much potential for abuse from these corrupt minds who first tried to start SOPA/ACTA/PIPA.

Did they clearly state that it’s going to be strictly taking away your rights to freedom? No, they fooled ignoramus followers like you into believing it’s for your own security. Now what makes you think this can’t be another hidden-in-plain view attempt? Cause it comes from your herd master, Apple?

You are part of the cause of the outrageous idiocracy going on in the U.S.; no reasoning, no questioning, just foolishly following like a sheep. These are the same people who end up leading the country and creating stupid laws, one of which has recently been created.

J M

Sorry, I fail to see how this is government censorship…If there is an amber alert or a natural disaster or some sort of emergency information, I am very happy that this capability exists. You understand almost every major cellular company supports this as well…

@dongiuj

Why is it that every time i take a photo with my iphone 5 i can see the location symbol on in the taskbar? All my location options are turned off.

http://www.eraser.org B. Braun

Geotagging the photos

@dongiuj

Isn’t geotagging locating where the photo is taken? Why would there be geotagging when i’m taking a private photo and location services are disabled?

pauleebe

Where does this leave Microsoft and google? Surely google is at 100 along with Facebook.

http://twitter.com/Cesuva Matthew

Why does no-one proof read on this site? ‘Losing’ is spelt wrong in the first sentence.